Diyu - Eighteen Levels of Hell

Eighteen Levels of Hell

The concept of the eighteen hells started in the Tang Dynasty. The Buddhist text Wen Diyu Jing (問地獄經) mentioned 134 worlds of hell, but was simplified to the Eighteen Levels of Hell for convenience. Sinners feel pain and agony just like living human beings when they are subjected to the tortures listed below. They cannot "die" from the torment because when the ordeal is over, their bodies will be restored to their original states for the torture to be repeated. The following is a list of common punishments and tortures in the eighteen levels of hell:

• Mountain of Knives: Sinners are made to shed blood by climbing a mountain with sharp blades sticking out. Some depictions show offenders climbing trees with knives or sharp thorns sticking out from trunks and branches.
• Cauldron torture: Sinners are fried in oil cauldrons. Some depictions show offenders being steamed instead of being fried.
• Dismemberment: Sinners' bodies are dismembered by various means, including, but not limited to, the following:
  • Sawing
  • Carving
  • Slicing into half
  • Mashing or pounding into pulp
  • Crushed by heavy rocks or boulders
  • Run over by vehicles
• Grinding torture: Sinners are put into a grinding machine and ground into a bloody pulp.
• Tortures involving fire:
  • Burning: Sinners are set aflame or cast into fiery infernos.
  • Paolao torture: Sinners are stripped naked and made to climb a large metal cylinder with a fire lit at its base.
  • Boiling liquid torture: Sinners have boiling liquids forced down their throats or poured on parts of their bodies.
• Tortures involving removal of body parts or organs:
  • Tongue-ripping
  • Eye-gouging
  • Heart-digging
  • Disembowelment: Sinners have their internal organs dug out.
  • Skinning
  • Slicing off fingers and toes
• Ice World: Sinners are frozen in ice. Some depictions show unclothed sinners suffering from frostbite in an icy world. Their bodies eventually fall apart or break into pieces.
• Scales and hooks torture: Sinners have hooks pierced into their bodies and are hung upside down. Some depictions show sinners having nails hammered into their bodies (similar to crucifixion).
• Pool of Blood: Sinners are cast into a pool of blood. Blood spills from all body orifices.
• Tortures involving animals: Sinners are trampled by cattle, gored by animals with horns or tusks, mauled or eaten by predators, stung or bitten by poisonous species etc.
• Avīci: The period of suffering in this chamber is the longest and it is reserved for sinners who have committed heinous crimes, including the Five Grave Offences.

Some literature refers to eighteen types of hells or to eighteen hells for each type of punishment. Some religious or literature books say that wrongdoers who were not punished when they were alive are punished in the hells after death.